Ashley McBryde Says Headlining Her Own Tour Is a Chance to Pay It Forward

Ashley McBryde is set to launch her first-ever headlining tour, the Girl Going Nowhere Tour, in September, but the country singer says she already knows exactly what kind of tour boss she wants to be. Backstage at the 2018 Taste of Country Music Festival, McBryde explained to The Boot that she has learned a lot from opening for so many acts during her career to date.

"We've been out with Jon Pardi, Miranda Lambert, Luke Combs, Brothers Osborne -- they've all been really good to us in their own way," McBryde shares. "That might be in the form of [gifts like] whiskey or an Xbox or whatever. Miranda bought me a dinosaur onesie."

As someone who was recently in an opening slot herself -- she joined Combs on his Don't Tempt Me With a Good Time Tour, which ran through April -- McBryde remembers very clearly how much it meant to her that the tour headliners treated her well. She's looking forward to treating her openers with the same kindness.

"We have the chance now to be so kind to an opener," she says. "We know what it's like to not have a green room or a dressing room. If you need food, we want you to come to our room, the same way Miranda and Jon and Luke did that for me.

"Our biggest thing this fall is, number one, to headline, and number two, be really kind to our openers," she adds.

So, who's the lucky artist joining McBryde on the road? Young country singer Dee White, who met McBryde at the age of 19 and hails from Slapout, Ala. "Yeah, that's an actual name of a place," McBryde interjects. "I thought it was fake, but it turns out it's not.

"This guy has a voice like if Dwight Yoakam and Ronnie Milsap had a baby. I love everything about him," she says of White. "This is a voice that country music has been missing, and we have to have it."